Virology Journal

Virology Journal is an open-access peer-reviewed medical journal published by BioMed Central. It publishes research related to viruses and the prevention of viral infection (including vaccination, the use of antiviral agents, and gene therapy). The journal was established in 2004 with Robert Garry (Tulane University) as founding editor-in-chief and has been edited by Linfa Wang since 2012. It aims to cover rapid communications amongst virologists.

Not to be confused with Virology (journal).
Virology Journal
DisciplineVirology
LanguageEnglish
Edited byLinfa Wang
Publication details
History2004–present
Publisher
FrequencyRolling
Yes
LicenseCreative Commons Attribution Generic 2.0
2.464 (2018)
Standard abbreviations
ISO 4Virol. J.
Indexing
ISSN1743-422X
OCLC no.56433791
Links

Controversy

On 21 July 2010, Virology Journal published an article entitled "Influenza or not influenza: Analysis of a case of high fever that happened 2000 years ago in Biblical time".[1] According to Mark 1:29–33 and Matthew 8:14–15, the mother-in-law of Simon Peter "lay sick" with a febrile illness. Jesus then took her by the hand and the fever immediately left. This is also described in Luke 4:38-39. The authors rule out that the woman was possessed by demons, and conclude that she was struck with influenza as "the fever retreated instantaneously. This implies that the disease was probably not a severe acute bacterial infection (such as sepsis) or subacute endocarditis that would not resolved instantaneously" [sic].

This article created controversy amongst scientists, who decried the article from anywhere from "truly bizarre"[2] to "garbage",[3] as well as expressing puzzlement over how the article got published in the first place.[2][3][4] The editor-in-chief of Virology Journal originally commented that the submission underwent standard peer review, and was recommended for acceptance after modification by both reviewers, but later apologized for the publication of the article and announced that it would be retracted.[5] The article was retracted on 13 August 2010.[6]

Ellis Hon, the paper's lead author, told RetractionWatch that he agreed to the retraction after the amount of negative publicity generated by the paper.[7]

Abstracting and indexing

Virology Journal is abstracted and indexed in

gollark: Phones seem to continually be growing in size for no apparent reason and as someone with small hands it's quite annoying.
gollark: That sounds very finger-soreness-inducing.
gollark: Meh.
gollark: I was thinking more gesture input gloves emulating a keyboard.
gollark: Keyboard gloves plus working overlay glasses would be very neat.

References
  1. Kam LE Hon; Pak C Ng; Ting F Leung (2010). "Influenza or not influenza: Analysis of a case of high fever that happened 2000 years ago in Biblical time". Virology Journal. 7 (1): 169. doi:10.1186/1743-422X-7-169. PMC 2918564. PMID 20663162. (Retracted)
  2. Tara C. Smith (10 August 2010). "Biblical fever = influenza. You're kidding me, right?". Aetiology. ScienceBlogs. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
  3. PZ Myers (11 August 2010). "But what if she had vapors, or an imbalance of humors?". Pharyngula. ScienceBlogs. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
  4. Bob O'Hara (10 August 2010). "The Virology of Christ". This Scientific Life. Retrieved 13 August 2010.
  5. Robert Garry. "Influenza or not influenza: Analysis of a case of high fever that happened 2000 years ago in Biblical time – Comments". Virology Journal. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
  6. Kam LE Hon; Pak C Ng; Ting F Leung (2010). "Retraction: Influenza or not influenza: Analysis of a case of high fever that happened 2000 years ago in Biblical time". Virology Journal. 7 (1): 190. doi:10.1186/1743-422X-7-190. PMC 2924865. PMID 20707907.
  7. Ivan Oransky (12 August 2010). "The shroud of retraction: Virology Journal withdraws paper about whether Christ cured a woman with flu". RetractionWatch. Retrieved 13 August 2010.

Further reading

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